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by petiteneko



Series: Prompts [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Mentions of Death, Swearing, can be shippy or not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 15:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9448778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petiteneko/pseuds/petiteneko
Summary: The world was a cruel, ugly place, and as an orphan from Flevance, Trafalgar Law learned that the hard way





	

**Author's Note:**

> From a writing prompt on tumblr: "I need a place to stay"
> 
> And of course I take the angst route xD. I wrote this last night, but it didn’t turn out right so I edited it a lot since I found a song to go with it.

Ever since he had escaped. Ever since he was the sole survivor… Law had lost all hope.

In the government. In the people. In humanity. In trust.

The only way for a person was to gain something was to give something in return. Something of equal or greater value.

It didn’t matter what you wanted, or needed. People would hang you out to dry. It didn’t matter if you would die without their help.

People were selfish. People always put themselves first. If ignoring you benefitted them more than paying attention did, then you didn't exist for all they cared.

(His father helped, and helped, and helped those who asked him for it, but when he finally asked for help himself, what did the world do?

They sent him guns.

Fire.

Agony.

Death.

They called it purging. Because admitting they poisoned him wasn’t beneficial at all, and curing them? Well, that admitted they poisoned an entire country for pretty white things.

And that looked bad, didn’t it?)

Humanity was depraved. Heartless. They lied. Cheated. They couldn’t be trusted.

That probably wasn't a trait a doctor was supposed to have.

(But, then again, it wasn't like he was going to become one it seemed.)

People were selfish, lying murders.

That’s what Flevance taught him.

.xxx.

“I need a place to stay.”

Alone. He was alone. But the last thing he would ever utter was those words. It implied he was helpless. That he was useless. That he depended on others to survive.

(And just where did that get Flevance?)

Sure, he needed a place to stay, but he wasn’t about to beg for it.

“I’ll work for you.”

He’d offer instead. People were selfish assholes after all.

.xxx.

He wouldn’t call the places he’d stay _home_ exactly. No, each place he would earn his keep until they decided they didn’t need the help anymore. Until they discovered a white mark or two on his skin that he had hid. Until he messed up and uttered Flevance.

(Or until he became too disgusted by their behaviours.)

But he went through a variety of houses and places that would offer him shelter and food for work.

(Just _what_ was he even doing? Living this sham of a life. He knew, oh he knew. He would die soon. He only had a few more years left… that was what his father’s notes said. The sole survivor dead by thirteen.)

Gradually the child heard things children shouldn’t. He heard tales of an infamous pirate crew, and…

Piracy. The idea called to him.

The government abandoned and persecuted him after all.

(And it was getting harder to find a place. Sure, the marks were easy enough to hide if they were on his torso or hands or feet, but the moment his face began to blanch… At first people wouldn’t suspect, but they didn’t fade away, or that they would noticed he’d rub or scratch at the marks… the way he hid the pain… They knew, and they feared)

He couldn’t even live out his last few years in peace, and it was entirely the government’s fault. They called his country one of monsters. That they were contagious. Diseased. That they needed to be exterminated.

(Perhaps Law could have lived in some form of contentment, knowing that while it was the government’s fault they at least didn’t label them as an epidemic.)

But no, they slaughtered. They burned. His parents… Lami…

He needed justice.

If the world wanted him gone so badly, sure, he’d embrace death.

But only if he went out with a bang.

(And besides, a pirate crew might welcome the idea of a suicidal child recklessly going into the front lines. He needed a place to stay after all.)

.xxx.

This time, he asked. Sure, it was with grenades and bombs and a threat that was _far_ from idle, but he asked.

He asked for a chance at vengeance. To kill as many people as possible.

(It wasn’t just the government. It wasn’t just the marines. No, the entire civilian race was contaminated with this filth.)

People were disgusting. People were selfish. Liars.

And they needed to pay. Pay for Flevance. For his parents. For Lami. For, inevitably, him.

He didn’t ask for a place to stay, but working with these pirates would provide that.

Law wasn’t stupid. He knew he had to work for it. Had to prove himself. Needed training. But that was in due time, and he would not give up – he only had a few years left after all…

(And maybe, just maybe, he could remember what it was like to have a family again.)

.xxx.

For once, for once Trafalgar Law was welcomed. He was greeted with smiles. He learned to laugh again. People were not scared of him because of his disease. (Perhaps for what he could do, but that was a different story.)

Certainly, there was one there that didn’t like him, but he wasn’t exactly singled out either.

They all warned him it would be hard, and that he had to earn his keep, but Law was prepared for that. It was how he had lived until now anyway. He had no home to run back to, no parents to return to.

_Flevance was just a pile of corpses after all._

He had a place to stay, even if he had to work hard for it.

Until that damned mute-not-mute ruined everything…

“You need to get as far away from Doffy as you can Law.”

All of this, over a fucking initial? _It wasn’t as if he was going to live for much longer anyway!_

But, no, that stupid idiot wasn’t having it. No, he decided he wouldn’t just give him a stern warning. He decided to fucking kidnap him!

“Living with them is no way a child should grow up. Let’s find you a cure! You need a place to stay, I’ll give you that!”

_Bullshit._

Nobody was that fucking selfless.

.xxx.

And yet, what Cora-san provided for him was different than anything he could truly remember. (He had forgotten what it was like to be smiled at like that. Forgotten what it was like to be tucked in at night, or have food made for you. Forgotten what it was like to just _enjoy_ himself without worrying about ultimatums or punishments. To receive without giving back. What it was like to be a child.)

He had forgotten what it was like to be loved.

Forgotten what a _home_ truly was. It wasn’t shelter. It wasn’t food. No. It was _people._

Or in his case: Cora-san.

Those six months were blissful.

The calm before the storm.

Because, yet again, he watched (well, _heard_ ) as it was violently ripped from his grasp.

Home.

.xxx.

Alone, he was alone again.

Alone and _alive._

Sure, he needed to figure out just _how_ to manage everything but…

He needed to keep fighting, for Cora-san.

.xxx.

Bepo, Bepo was just like him. Alone in this cruel, ugly world. They had no place to stay.

(But at least he managed to get rid of the spots. The symptoms were still there, the pain too, but he was getting better…)

Sure, they were both orphans, but at the very least they had each other.

He was older now, not as weak or useless. No he had more abilities under his belt. So he wouldn’t ask. No, he wouldn’t lower himself to that level.

(Not to mention he _couldn’t._ No, he couldn’t lose his home again.)

(He had lost it one too many times.)

He didn’t want a place to stay.

.xxx.

Home. Home…

The closest thing in his life that fit that definition was Bepo. Was the Scalpel. And yet, no… those weren’t home.

He didn’t have one.

(He refused to)

His crew never asked or offered. And neither did he.

Perhaps yes, he was afraid. Afraid of losing everything that mattered to him _for a third time._

 _He_ was still out there after all. Under the protection of the government…

Law couldn’t… he couldn’t…

Sure, they were the closest thing to home, but until he was free, Trafalgar Law could never have a home. He refused to have that place to stay.

.xxx.

He hadn’t begged! He hadn’t asked! He didn’t ask for **any** of this!

_That means we’re nakama right?_

**Torao!**

“I’m so glad you’re alive!”

“Bullshit!”

(It was just as it was all those years ago… the way he pushed him away. The way he **feared.** Except this time, Law knew. He knew just how selfish some people could be. But he couldn’t lose that. No. Not again.)

None of this was supposed to happen! He was just supposed to be a nobody. He was supposed to give and get just like normal!

He didn’t ask. He didn’t want. He refused.

“Why are you doing this Mugiwara-ya? I didn’t ask you to do any of this!”

There it was. That same smile…

“Shishishi, just because you didn’t ask, doesn’t mean you don’t need it. I can see it in your eyes… in the way you speak and act… you need one, don’t you? A place to stay.”

Law felt the pit in his stomach widen.

“I’ll give that to you. Everybody needs one.”

He supposed that was true… but he was afraid. Too afraid to ask. To afraid to contemplate, and yet…

“I’d like to be Torao’s home anyway! Besides, we’re nakama right? Nakama should always feel at home with one another.”

He didn’t ask but…

If it truly was a home, he supposed you didn’t need to.


End file.
